Fluffy, sticky, and comforting, these cinnamon rolls stand out among the rest.
New York City periodically gets fixated on specific pastries. 10 years ago, it was doughnuts. Two years ago, it was croissants. This is the year of the cinnamon roll. Since 2025, three bakeries that only make cinnamon rolls opened in Manhattan. Even more spots have gone viral for their signature buns smothered in cream cheese frosting.
Pillowy, sticky, and often the size of your head, an excellent cinnamon roll is worth the extra effort of waking up early and waiting in line. But which ones are the best? We tasted six of the most popular cinnamon rolls side by side to figure it out.
How we selected the cinnamon rolls
For this taste test, we only considered classic cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting — nothing plain, glazed, or with special flavors like bananas Foster or lemon.
In order to find the most popular ones in New York City, we used Google. We searched “most popular cinnamon rolls in NYC” and “best cinnamon roll NYC” and selected the seven places with the highest ratings: Benji’s Buns, Hani’s Bakery, L’Appartement 4F, Spirals, Sunday Morning, Tall Poppy, and Welcome Home. We were forced to eliminate Spirals on the day of the taste test because they were closed for maintenance, leaving us with six to compare.
How we tested
A team of editors picked up the cinnamon rolls the morning of the taste test. We served them within three hours, so that they remained fresh but not warm…